Science of the Total Environment 634 (2018) 497–500

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Science of the Total Environment

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitote nv

Short Communication

Soil microbial biomass: A key soil driver in management of

ecosystem functioning
Jay Shankar Singh a,⁎, Vijai Kumar Gupta b
a
Department of Environmental Microbiology, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar (Central) University, Raebarelly Road, Lucknow 226025, Uttar Pradesh, India
b
Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, ERA Chair of Green Chemistry, School of Science, Tallinn University of Technology, Akadeemia tee 15, 12618 Tallinn, Estonia

HIGHLI GH T S G R A P HICAL A BS T R A C T

• Soil microbial biomass as a key ecologi- cal

driver has been described.
• Soil microbial diversity and biomass play
key roles in the ecosystem services.
• Soil micro-flora N uptake is an adapta- tion
for short-term storage of N in ter- restrial
ecosystems.
• Soil microbial biomass is key ecological
driver in rehabilitation of degraded
lands.

article i nfo abstract

Article history: Although patterns of microbial diversity and biomass have been described and reviewed at local and regional scales, a
Received 28 February 2018
unifying driver, or set of environmental drivers affecting soil microbial biomass (SMB) pattern at global level is still missing.
Received in revised form 30 March 2018
Biomass of soil microbial community, known as SMB is considered widely as the index of soil fertility and ecosystem
Accepted 30 March 2018
productivity. The escalating soil stresses due to land degradation and climatic variability are directly correlated with loss of
Available online 7 April 2018
microbial diversity and abundance or biomass dynamics. Therefore, alleviating soil stresses on microbial communities with
ecological restoration could reduce the unpredictability and turn- over rates of SMB. Thus, the key ecological factors which
Editor: Frederic Coulon
stabilize the SMB and minimize its turnover, are sup- posed to play an important role in the soil nutrient dynamics and
productivity of the ecosystems. Because of the existing public concern about the deleterious impacts of ecosystem
Keywords:
Land degradation
degradation, there is an increasing inter- est in improving the understanding of SMB, and the way, it contributes to
Environmental drivers restoration and functioning of ecosystems.
Microbial community © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Soil microbial biomass

1. Microbial biomass under different ecological regimes and ecosys- tem types
Functioning of ecosystems rely on the flux of chemical signals, car- bon,
and nutrients across the trophic levels, mainly mediated by
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: jayshankar_1@yahoo.co.in (J.S. Singh).
microbial interactions in the soil-plant-animal food web (Seneviratne,
2015). Soil microbial diversity and abundance/biomass play key roles in the
ecosystem sustainability by maintaining essential functions of soil health,
through carbon and nutrient turnover. Even after distur- bances, an ecosystem
with a higher microbial diversity and biomass may have a higher capacity to
sustain the ecological processes through microbiological buffering. There is
now increasing evidence that above- ground (plant litter quantity and
quality) and belowground (soil

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.03.373
0048-9697/© 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
498 J.S. Singh, V.K. Gupta / Science of the Total Environment 634 (2018) 497–500
microbial flora and fauna diversity) are key drivers that play fundamen- tal forests and mycorrhizae in boreal temperate forests) it is suggested that
roles in controlling ecosystem processes and stability (Wardle et al., variations in the size of SMB can impact to variability of the func- tioning of
2004). However, understanding ecological linkages between above- and various ecosystem types.
belowground abiotic and biotic (including SMB) attributes is still a key The rise in unpredictable climate shift and anthropogenic perturba- tions are
challenge for our knowledge on the stability and functioning of ecosystem the critical drivers to regulate the existence and survival of in- digenous
processes. Therefore, given the importance of SMB dynamics in defining microbial diversity, and consequently, the essential soil functioning of the
ecosystem properties, the understanding as to how SMB re- spond to ecosystem. The macroclimate, topography and soil quality (pH, organic C and
unexpected rise in biotic and abiotic drivers and loss of plant species diversity N, moisture, etc.) are the key drivers in con- trolling SMB dynamics across
seems a research priority that would shed light on the performance of diverse different ecosystems and locations (Wardle, 1992). The temporal dynamics of
ecosystems. SMB is likely to be the key factor in determining the extent of release of
Among the various ecological drivers, microbes (N2-fixers, P- immobilized labile nutri- ents due to microbial cell deaths, and the availability
solubilizers, growth hormone producers, etc.) and their SMB pools may of nutrients re- leased crucial to plant growth and ecosystem functioning
be considered as major ecological impetus in controlling the di- verse (Wardle,
ecosystem functions globally (Table 1). Soil carbon (C) and nitro- gen (N) 1998). The factors that provide viability to the soil microbial community
together with phosphorus (P) and soil pH are the key drivers that may limit the therefore, are assumed to enhance soil nutrient conservation in the form of
functioning of various nutrient deprived ecosystems (Bru et al., 2011; Carnicer higher SMB size owing to the reduced release of immobilized nutrients. While
et al., 2015). In strongly soil N deprived eco- systems such as Arctic and studying the effect of climatic disturbances on ecosys- tem types, we may
Alpine Tundra and Temperate forests, nutri- ents release after soil micro-flora expect SMB to have lesser temporal variability owing to lesser
(SMB) death has been pointed out as an important source of plant nutrient N disturbances.
(van der Heijden et al., 2008). So, it is suggested that uptake of N by soil Along a large geographical area, climate variability, land use types and the
micro-flora might be an adap- tation that may have developed for short-term dominant vegetation composition might be the key factors for SMB variability
storage of N in several terrestrial ecosystems, thus reducing the loss of N from across different ecosystem types. Differences in the quantity and quality of
the soil of nutri- ent poor ecosystems. It is also important to mention here that substrate (organic C and N) inputs caused by varying plant residue types (litter
the chem- ical composition of plant residues (litter and fine roots) from diverse and fine roots) and the associated nu- trient specificity can be crucial drivers to
plant species in an ecosystem could be unpredictable and therefore, dif- ferent influence the SMB across the ecosystem types. Thus, the higher SMB in
microbial communities might be evolved to decay and decom- pose the variety soil of scrub stand than other ecosystems might be attributed mainly to the
of litter types. As many microbial communities have restricted bio-geographic greater availability of organic matter via vegetation cover with giant plant
distributions (N2-fixing rhizobia in tropical species. How- ever, in case the temporal data on SMB from different
ecosystems across the globe were quantitatively analyzed, more persistent and
less dis- turbed ecosystems had higher SMB values than the most disturbed one
Table 1 (Wardle, 1998), though the temporal variability of different ecosys- tem types
Microbes as key ecological drivers regulating functioning of diverse ecosystems. was substantially comparable. This indicates that temporal SMB variability is
Source: van der Heijden et al. (2008) Ecol. Lett. 11: 296–310.
solely governed by the dominant vegetation and land use type, but the nutrient
Ecosystem type Microbes Microbial functions turnover along with other edaphic fac-
Tropical savannah, Symbiotic, free living and Support plant productivity tors can be more effective than those in regulating the temporal SMB
some grasslands and endophytic N-fixing by supplying different variability. However, it is suggested that shifts in plant species composi- tion
tropical forests bacteria limiting nutrients (N) to the during land use change, can influence the microbial community composition
plants. dynamics and SMB basically by changing soil organic nutri- ent status (Zhang
Endophytes enhance
et al., 2016). But it is still unclear as to why SMB is not so responsive to large-
growth and competitive
scale disturbance regimes, such as invasions of
ability of their host plants.
Deserts and boreal N-fixing cyanobacteria Contribute to the N alien species into new territories, climate change due to atmospheric CO2
forests economy of ecosystems via
elevation, greater soil nitrogen deposition and land use changes (Wardle et al.,
N cycling and accumulation
under extremely limited 2004), and therefore, further studies in this regard, will enhance our
N2-fixation situations. understanding about temporal microbial community com- positions and
Helps in degraded land biomass variability.
restoration. Although nutrient status, seasonality, soil factors, temperature, and
Tropical, temperate and Arbuscular mycorrhizal Enhanced P uptake of host
boreal forests, (AM), Ectomycorrhizal plant species when plant
other factors, are important drivers to control functioning of dry tropical forest
grassland and (EM) and Ericoid productivity is strongly ecosystem, SMB could be one of the vital factors affecting produc- tivity in the
savannah ecosystems mycorrhizal (ERM) fungi limited by P availability. tropical dry deciduous forests, as observed in the Vindhyan plateau (Singh et
Provide resistance to plants al., 2010). In India, the previous investigations regard- ing SMB across the
against diseases, drought and tropical dry deciduous forest ecosystems have been conducted by selecting only
other environmental stresses one or the other sites on a temporal scale, and without deciphering differences
in nutrient poor in SMB status and its role in distri-
and degraded ecosystems.
Natural ecosystems P-solubilizing bacteria May constitute up to 40% of bution and variations of the dominant vegetation composition. It may be
the cultivable population of hypothesized that alterations in soil properties due to land uses and
soil bacteria.
anthropogenic activities would correspond to differences in the SMB size and
However, significance of
turnover rates and consequently, to loss of vegetation cover and ecosystem
bacteria in natural
ecosystems is still in enigma
productivity. However, the experimental evidence for such arguments is still
and further studied are still warranted.
warranted. In nutrient poor ecosystems, SMB acts as the major reservoir of avail-
Tropical forests Nitrifying and denitrifying Indirectly reduce plant
bacteria productivity because about able nutrients, and plays very crucial roles in the survival of plants (Singh et al.,
50% of available soil N is 2016a, 2016b; Vimal et al., 2017). In the dry tropical decid- uous forest
lost from the ecosystem by ecosystem, nutrient withdrawal from the senescing leaves
nitrification and and its immobilization in the SMB has been considered as the nutrient
denitri fication processes
conserving adaptations in response to nutrient paucity, and thus SMB
J.S. Singh, V.K. Gupta / Science of the Total Environment 634 (2018) 497–
500 499
constitutes the key available nutrient source for the survival of plant
communities (Singh et al., 2010; Singh, 2015a, 2015b). The conversion of
forest into cropland and savanna due to plant harvesting may result a
significant alterations in the size of SMB. Since, plant diversity is a key driver
in controlling SMB (Thakur et al., 2015); any alterations in the soil properties
due to deforestation may have significant impact on SMB stability and its
turnover rates. As plant biodiversity is projected to decline in response to
global environmental change factors, we can also expect indirect effects of key
environmental drivers on SMB status via alterations in plant community
compositions. The increasing de- mand of agricultural land accelerates
deforestation and consequently disturbances in SMB trends had been noted.
Although deforestation is a common practice for the generation of agricultural
managed land- use systems, afforestation has become a much discussed topic
in recent years (Singh et al., 2010). Therefore, we suggest that long-term
investi- gations should be conducted on the SMB patterns, a sensitive nutrient
pool that may respond to plant diversity loss compared to other envi- ronmental
drivers.
2. Microbial biomass in restoration of degraded land soil productivity
Restoration ecology, a somewhat new thrust research area, still needs
rigorous explorations to achieve satisfactory results (Calmon et al., 2011). As
the changing global climate is one of the major environ- mental challenges
today, there is an urgent need to restore the huge de- graded land area to make
it cultivable for the overall sustainable agro- environmental development. Size
of SMB can provide one of the most satisfactory estimates of the productivity
of any restored degraded land (do Couto et al., 2016). A lower ratio of SMB
to the total soil organic nutrients seems to indicate good strength of degraded
land rehabilita- tion. Consequently, the ratio of SMB to the total organic
nutrients may be considered as a reliable parameter for the success of degraded
land rehabilitation. The re-established SMB status and its dynamics under
prevailing environmental drivers may provide valuable information about the
restoration progress and productivity potential of derived lands for agriculture
purposes.
Re-vegetation of degraded land
Degraded land
Microbial flora
and fauna
Plant litters
Root exudates
Soil microbial biomass
Solubilization
Dissolved organic matter
Decomposition
Nutrient immobilization
Fig. 1. Schematic representation showing contribution of soil microbial biomass as source of plant available nutrients to agro- and forest ecosystems.
SMB, an important driver of ecosystem functioning, may be consid- ered as
the sensitive key biological indicator of perturbations owing to soil
disturbances (Zornoza et al., 2009). Research practices on degraded land
restoration, have mainly focused on the aboveground features with lesser
emphasis on the belowground soil microbial processes and the patterns of
SMB, which could play a vital role in productivity of the de- rived ecosystems.
The soil microbial properties between degraded and restored lands have been
compared (Bini et al., 2013; Singh, 2016), but the knowledge about key
environmental drivers influencing the patterns of SMB and microbial
community structure during restoration, is still limited. Therefore, the study of
SMB patterns and its relationship to climate and soil drivers can enhance our
understanding in rehabilita- tion of land uses like vast waste lands (e.g. spoiled
coal mine areas). It is suggested that during restoration programs, the
belowground microbial activities and their biomass development and responses
must be con- sidered in implementation. It is proposed that restoration practices
with mixed plant species having high biomass producing potential, can
contribute to speedy recovery of lost microbial diversity and SMB turnovers
(Singh, 2013; Araujo et al., 2013; Singh, 2014). The fast recov- ery of
microbial communities and SMB size due to mixed plantations cover (Lange et
al., 2015) compared to the monoculture plantations can help in the returning of
the huge bulk of diverse types of plant- derived resources (leaf litter, fine
root biomass, root exudates or rhizodeposits) and favorable soil conditions.
In view of these, it is rec- ommended that plant species having high biomass
production effi- ciency, and favoring the establishment of beneficial
microbial (mycorrhizae and nitrogen-fixers) associations, should preferably be
selected during restoration programs.
Speedy recovery of soil productivity on the deforested area can be achieved
by afforestation of mixed plantations in association with suit- able bio-
inoculants, which can be a good microbial “booster”to enhance the SMB and
ecosystem productivity (Fig. 1). The inoculation of suitable bio-fertilizers along
with mixed plantations, not only increases the pop- ulation of the microbial
strains inoculated, but also enhances diversity and abundance of microbes
native to the soil, through dormancy break- ing of their quiescent viable spores
developed in response to environ- mental stresses (Seneviratne and
Kulasooriya, 2013; Singh and Strong,
2016). Thus, a combination of mixed plantation, stress-tolerant bio-
Crop land Forest ecosystem
Nutrient
uptake by
plants and
soil
&
micro-flora
Available nutrients
Mineralization
500 J.S. Singh, V.K. Gupta / Science of the Total Environment 634 (2018) 497–500
inoculants, and organic amendments in restoration of the degraded lands may
offer a tripartite association to augment soil nutrient turn- overs and
consequently to reinstate productivity of stressed ecosys- tems. However, it
should be kept in mind that addition of microbial inoculants into new territories
may greatly affect soil plant-microbe in- teractions, especially when the new
microbial species has vastly differ- ent physiological behaviours from the
indigenous micro- flora. No information is available on how addition of
exotic soil microbial inocu- lants in association with re-vegetation of degraded
lands can influences the exiting native soil micro-biota, although these effects
should be strongest when the alien microbial inoculants has functional
attributes that are not compatibles to the indigenous microbial species. In our
opinion, the future research on SMB turnovers as affected by the key
ecological drivers and its correlation with the ecosystem functioning holds
potential as the complementary criteria for evaluating the rehabil- itation
progress in restoration ecology.
3. Conclusions
Besides the importance of physico-chemical and biological processes to
maintain soil health, SMB may be the ‘keystone’ biological driver of
ecosystem functioning. Loss of beneficial microbial diversity and SMB
associated to land use changes and erratic climate shifts, are the major reasons
for deterioration of soil fertility and ecosystem productivity. Therefore,
researches related to plant-microbe-soil associations to com- bat problems of
soil degradation need to be performed in greater depth. Today, it is the utmost
need to maintain soil health and productivity with emphasis on restoration of
vast area of the degraded lands using efficient biomass producing novel plant
species and microbial inocu- lants. Finally, SMB is concluded to be an
important index for the soil health and environmental sustainability.
Acknowledgement
JSS is thankful to Head, Department of Environmental Microbiology, BBA
University, Lucknow, India for providing all kind of supports and the
infrastructure facilities.
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